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Ruth Gross to receive
Woman of Valor Award
page 6
Beth Jacob to honor
Thelma 'Boots' Nutis
page 6
ADL schedules annual
regional board meeting
page 7
'■■■■■ In The Chronicle ■■■■■
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By Judith Broder Sellner
Whereas it took an Act of
Congress in 1914 to set aside
one day a year as Mother's
Day for the American people
to pay tribute to their mothers,
be it known that traditional
Jews, celebrating the Sabbath
in their homes, have for centuries — if not millenia — recited the "Woman of Valor"
poem from the Book of Proverbs before their Sabbath dinner, thereby, Jewish families
honor all women —- mothers,
wives and daughters — every
week, not just once a year.
The Book of Proverbs is attributed to King Solomon,
who is known for three Ws —
wisdom, writings arid wives.
Whether or not Solomon was a
womanizer is open to debate;
however, his poem, "Woman
of Valor" is the only hymn in
the Scriptures in praise of
women. And lest anyone believe that women.have come
of age since the 1950s, "Woman of Valor" was written
about 3,000 years ago, recognizing the woman's role in the
home and in the field — acquiring real estate, managing
agricultural ventures and pror
ducing and selling apparel
among other career activities
— as a breadwinner. Written
in acrostic form (the first letters of each verse from the Hebrew alphabet), the poem symbolizes woman's completeness,
from aleph to taf.
Artists have long been attracted to the poem, and
paintings of "Woman of Valor" have been preserved in
prayerbooks dating back at
least to the 15th century. Examples in two Italian manuscripts of that era are in the
collections of the Israel Museum and the Jewish National
and University Library, both
in Jerusalem. Contemporary
Israeli artists who have created appealing interpretations
of the poem include Lucien
Krief, who robes her in pastel
colors and lavish fabrics in the
art deco mode; Raphael Abe-
cassis, . who portrays her in
brilliant colors amidst mystical symbolism and J. I. Tordj-
mari, who places her in sunny
rooms and fields. Tordjman's
22 impressions, one for each
of the poem's lines, have been
compiled in a book with de
tailed commentary by Rabbi
Adim Steinsaltz.
A commission for a memorial to Julia Keiner Forch-
heimer inspired Sylvia Axel-
rod Herskowitz, director of
the Yeshiva University Museum in New York, to assemble
an extraordinarily creative exhibit, featuring the work of 32
female artists (three in col
laboration with their husbands). The poem's references
to a woman's handwork,
seemed an appropriate basis
for an exhibit in tribute to
Forchheimer, a fiber artist
who started the weaving department at the Bezalel Institute, Jerusalem's prestigious
art school.; The second wife of
Leo Forchheimer, a wealthy
businessman and investor, Julia continued her weaving after her marriage and remained
modest and unaffected by her
wealth, much of which she donated to charitable causes, including Yeshiva University
Museum.
Herskowitz, a rabbi's wife,
had held a dim view of the
"Woman of Valor," or "Ai-
shet Hayil," poem because it
was always recited at women's
funerals. In her opinion, this
use trivialized the poem, and
she wanted to give it a new
ambiance. "Can it be rejuvenated?" she wondered as she set
about organizing the exhibit.
"We didn't want to limit the
show to a tight circle of socially accepted artists and media," says Herskowitz. "We
spread our net far and wide
and drew in people I didn't
necessarily know. We gave the
artists freedom to be creative,
and they gave their best." The
artists — from Boston to Los
Angeles and many from Israel
— loved a chance to do this
work on scripture through
many of them weren't even
knowledgeable, Herskowitz
points out.
Each artist illustrated one
line — some lines selected by
more than one artist — in media ranging from magic marker to watercolors, from silk to
silver, from wood to plexiglass, from textile applique to
papercut, There isn't a somber
image among the works; bright
and light colors predominate.
The 33 pieces exhibit ingenuity of approach and technique.
While some artists interpreted
the wording of the verses, others focused only on the line's
first letter. For instance, Siri
Berg, a New York artist specializing in color, titles her
piece aleph and presented the
letter boldy atop a herringbone-patterned base of scarlets, purples, golds, colors
mentioned in the poem. Jane
Logemann, a specialist in letters, illustrated the third verse
with a full page of gimme/ in
purple ink against a lavender
oil background on canvas.,
Malka Cohavi of Jerusalem
created a pair of silver candle
holders on a tray to portray
the verse, "The heart of her
husband trusts in her, and he
shall lack no fortune." Marion
Grebow, a tile artist, made a
ceramic challah set —- mixing
bowl, serving platter, and covered dish — with a challah
design for "She looks well to
the ways of her household, and
partakes not of the bread of
laziness." Waver Sharon Norry
illustrated "She makes a cloak
and sells it, and delivers a belt
to the peddlar" with a hand-
woven wedding kittel of silk,
wool, and metallic thread and
a silk canvas belt embroidered
in silk and metallic threads.
Herskowitz, who curated
the show herself— "I usually
call in guest curators," she
says — is excited about the
results. The exhibit remains at
Yeshiva University Museum
through July, then goes on the
road. So far, it is scheduled for
Hebrew Union College Gallery in Cinncinnati; the Plotkin Museum in Phoenix; the
Mizel Museum in Denver, and
the Janice Charrick Epstein
Gallery in West Bloomfield,
Mich. Other citiesare yet to be
confirmed.
This awesome display of talent, in praise of women by
women, summarily dismisses
all the bad jokes about Jewish
mothers and their daughters.
It's a new spin on an old dirge
— upbeat all the way — and
an honor to our mothers.
Judith Broder Sellner, a
freelance writer living in New
York, writes frequently about
Judaic arts and artists.
Foundation seeking information about
immigrants sponsored by I.W. Bernheim
By Shlela Wallace
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (JTA)
—A search has been launched
for the families of Eastern European Jews who were brought
to this country during the
1930s by philanthropist I. W.
Bernheim.
In Louisville, the name
Bernheim conjures up visions
of formal gardens, open fields
and natural forest lands that
make up Bernheim Forest,
which is located about 20
miles south of the city.
Bernheim Forest and the
foundation that sustains it are
the legacy of Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, a self-made Jewish man
who made a fortune in the
whiskey business and who led
some 300 to 350 Eastern European Jews in the late 1930s to
freedom by sponsoring them
in this country.
Bernheim's legacy is part of
Denver history as well, because Bernheim also lived
there, and it is believed that
the immigrants he sponsored
settled in both cities.
Much of Bernheim's life
and exploits have already been
documented. But according to
Charles McClure III, the executive director of the I.W.
Bernheim Foundation, no one
knows who was sponsored by
Bernheim or where they or
their descendants are today.
And that is a gap in the family history - which McClure
would like to fill in before he
retires in January 1995.
In 1867, Bernheim, a youth
of 19, traveled to America
from his home in Germany,
He made the trip after an
American uncle visiting the
family in the old country had
lured the young man to U.S.
shores v/ith the promise,of a
job and the loan of funds for
passage.
He reached America only to
find that the job that had been
promised him had evaporated
along with many others as a
result of a depression then
gripping the country,
sec BBRNHBIM pg. 17